Clients who bought the original Nest and are connected to Wi-Fi are receiving automatic software updates.

The Nest Learning Thermostat features an elegant round design and one-button simplicity, while learning a client’s routines over the course of a week to self-program itself. (It can also be programmed manually.) “With our Nest-exclusive features, Airwave, Auto-Away and the Nest Leaf, we believe there are opportunities for our customers to save much, much more,” says Nest founder and CEO Tony Fadell.

Via an activity sensor, Auto-Away turns down the system when the house is vacant. The Nest Leaf appears when you’ve been conserving energy.

Energy History
With the new 10-day Energy History, Nest owners can see exactly when, and for how long, their heating or cooling (HVAC) systems turned on and off, whether their energy use increased or decreased compared to the previous week, and the cause of that change.

“Now you can compare how much energy you used at a glance, then click or tap on any day to see what times you heated or cooled your home and what caused a change in your energy use,” Nest says on its web site.

An at-a-glance Energy History View is available on the device itself, while on the Mobile (Apple and Android) and web apps, you can drill down within a day to see exactly when your system was engaged. Active heating and cooling time periods are conveyed with red (heating) and blue (cooling) lines and bars across a 24-hour timeline.

Airwave
With the weather heating up, Nest is introducing Airwave. After the air conditioner turns off, it stays cold for five to ten minutes, so Airwave shortens the amount of time the high-energy chiller runs and instead uses the energy-efficient fan to push that extra cool air through the home. Nest automatically enables Airwave when the temperature is high and the humidity is low.

Nest says Airwave can save up to 30 percent of the energy used and the user doesn’t have to lift a finger.

Other New Features
Range Schedule is available in homes with both heat and AC and allows auto-switching between the two. Users set a range of desired temperatures, from 68 to 73, for example. When the temperature falls outside that range, Nest will automatically turn on heating or cooling. Range isn’t currently compatible with Auto-Schedule. The Nest Leaf will still appear if users set an energy-saving range of temps.

Away has been given its own spot in Settings, moving it out of the Learning section. Now you can select Settings, scroll to Away and adjust your Away temps.

Nest has even revamped the press connectors on the backplate, moving them to the outer edge for easier install.